ericwsparks.com

Who are you?

Here are the basics. My name is Eric Sparks, and I’m a writer living in the Memphis, TN area. During business hours, I serve as a marketing media manager where I wear many hats (Tech Writer, Ad Design, Web Design, and more). Whenever I can escape that world, you can normally find me working on my Fantasy and Science Fiction works. I am the author of The Tales of Lugon, which is the project I spend most of my time writing.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, emphasis in Literature from Union University in Jackson, TN. While I loved my time at Union (and will be the first to say that most of my professors were great and appreciated good writing in any form), I quickly discovered my passion for literature centered around the craft of storytelling, not arguing for specific interpretations or psychoanalyzing an author from his works. I still kept English as my major; I had planned on teaching high school English. In that role, I could encourage students to dive into the texts and understand the personal growth that could be achieved through seeing the different perspectives of the various characters without contributing to the elitism that seems to be running rampant in post-secondary academia. My career path changed, but not my love of reading, writing, and the benefits they bring to people. My approach to Creative Writing, and why I did not select classes that focused on it, is best described by William Faulkner: “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”

What do you write?

My first love is Fantasy literature. I have created my own fantasy world called Lugon, and the first novel (Truth Unearthed), is available now on Kindle, Apple Books, and Nook (hardcopies coming in early 2019). The second novel (and direct sequel) is already underway. Finally, I have also put together a very detailed outline for a stand alone Sci-Fi novel that I hope to start soon.

I do not consider myself a poet. Still, I’ll occasionally throw some rhymes together and share them. Poetry an art that has always eluded me. The ability to use rhythm and effectively share a vision through abstract phrasing is a rare gift. Combine that with the fact that I don’t even agree with the ideas concerning poetry that are en vogue currently, nobody in that world would ever say my rhyming even resembles poetry. That’s fine. The lack of quality is why I post them on here for free for the enjoyment of any that may find them amusing instead of asking people to support me in the endeavor.